(Bloomberg) -- Manchester United shares surged on growing M&A speculation following a Daily Mail report that Qatari investors are planning to make a bid for the English Premier League club in the coming days.
Shares in the football club jumped as much as 16% on Wednesday, their biggest gain since late November. A bid would come from separate, individual Qatari investors who want a full takeover, the Daily Mail reported late Tuesday citing people it didn’t identify. A spokesperson for Manchester United declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.
The iconic club has been at the center of bid chatter since last year, with shares soaring in November on news that its current owners, the Florida-based Glazer family, were mulling a potential sale of the team.
Man United, Liverpool Said to Be Buyout Targets for Qatar
Possible suitors for the club include British billionaire and fan Jim Ratcliffe, while Saudi Arabia’s sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal told the BBC last year that its government would support private sector bids for the team, as well as Liverpool FC.
Manchester United’s shares have surged over the last twelve months, with Wednesday’s move bringing their gains to roughly 75%. The jump also erases what had been a 9.5% loss this year through Tuesday’s close, and snaps a seven-day losing streak that had been the longest in more than a year.
--With assistance from Matt Turner.
(Updates to add company response in second paragraph. Previous version updated the chart and added context.)
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